I have a question that I was hoping that some swimbait whiz could help me with. 

To answer your question : both method work in cover or open water > I'd start out with the setup that your most comfortable in throwing ( to fish cover rig it weedless) fish it defferent ways (speed /retrieves) if you don't get bit, rig it the other way.One way you can slow down the fall speed with a jig is to run the hook in the nose and out the side of the bait giving it a wider profile. Another option is to wacky rig it if you've ever seen a dieing minnow they flip up a few feet , roll on their side and float down .

Swimbaits are a big supject. I have Castaic soft baits which have an internal hook system I have a Castaic shad, the one with the replaceable tail, I have Fish Traps and AA's, got those in San Diego and they are the jighead style. I also bought some wiith the type of hook with the nose attachment disigned to be texas rigged. You can nose hook some styles like the Banjo Minnows (Larry Dahlberg uses a variation of this for his "mr wigglys"). I have seen them drop shotted. I guess that means there are a lot of good ways to use them.

The earliest swimbait I can remember was the original "Vivif", there is one marketed by Harrison Hogue now that has the name but except for the tail is not much different than a storm.

I would personally go with the jighead because it looks more natural and the exposed hook point gives me more hookups, but if you have a nice big, sharp hook then that shouldn't be a problem. It's basically up to personal preference. A shadhead might also give you another degree of realism if you're using like a Yamamoto swimbait, but for the Money Minnow specifically, texas rigged is the way to go.

If you've spent any time at all fishing Money Minnows...you'll know that those weighted Texas rigging hooks designed for them leave much to be desired. The bait must be rigged absolutely perfect and even then it has a tendency to swim crooked. A great alternative is to rig on a jighead...just like a curlytail grub...in the nose and out the back. It will swim flawlessly, without all the twisting and tweaking common with the Money Minnow hooks.

ILbassin? You're in Illinois? Where about?

There is not much difference in the two methods other then a worm weight is more pointed and would probably come through weeds better . But there is so many ways to rig a swim bait. You can also fish it with any of the popular ways to rig plastic . on a weighted swim bait hook ,Weightless,, Texas style, Carolina style, drop shot , nose weighted wacky rig , on a jig head and there you have a lot of chooses as to style of jig head , on a spinner bait with or without a skirt . you can also rig it so it swims on its side or upright .